Hand tool for applying rubber tape



W. P. BROWN April 28, 1970 HAND TOOL FOR APPLYING RUBBER TAPE Filed Sept. 19, 1967 INVENTOR Zia 22-76 Meow/v ATTORNEYS United States Patent Int. Cl. B32b US. Cl. 156584 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dispensing device for tape of the type which includes an adhesive portion and a backing layer which includes a pair of pivotally interconnected arms with a reel on the free end of a first arm for rotatably supporting a roll of such tape and a take-up reel with handles secured thereto rotatably mounted on the free end of the other arm, said arms being biased toward each other for maintaining the takeup reel in contact with the roll of tape is disclosed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to dispenser for electricians tape and similar products in which a roll of elongate material is supported by a backing portion and, more particularly, this invention relates to a device for winding backing material from a roll of electricians tape while said tape is being applied to a wire.

Description of the prior art Devices are known for taking up backing material. For example, United States Patents Nos. 1,230,947, 3,077,919, 3,222,242, and 3,274,038 disclose devices generally of this type. The devices of the prior art are generally satisfactory in some respect but are often unduly complicated or expensive to produce and have not found broad acceptance for this reason. In addition many of the devices are designed for dispensing tape on to a linear or fiat surface and are not well adapted for dispensing electricians tape where the tape is wrapped about a wire or the like. It is, accordingly, a principal object of the present invention to provide a simplified but improved dispensing device for electricians tape and the like which is rugged in construction, simple in operation and which may economically be manufactured and distributed.

SUMMARY The device of the present invention, briefly and without intending to limit the scope of the invention, comprises a pair of pivotally interconnected arms which are biased toward each other, one of the arms carrying thereon a rotatable mount for a roll of double layer electricians tape which includes an adhesive layer and a backing layer and a take-up reel with a pair of oppositely extending handles rotatably secured to the other arm, the arms being biased toward each other such that the take-up reel is in rotating contact with the outer periphery of the roll of tape during use. The specific construction disclosed herein constitutes an object of the invention.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an electricians tape dispensing device which is easily moved in an orbit about a wire by the user and which during such orbital movement dispenses the adhesive portion of the electricians tape and takes up the backing portion.

An additional object of the invention is the provision of a dispensing device of the type described which has opposed handles for being gripped alternately by the user using his left and right hands respectively while moving the dispensing device in a orbital path about a Wire and simultaneously taking up the backing from the tape.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the specification and from the drawing to which reference is made.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the device of this invention shown during use for wrapping electricians tape about a wire.

FIGURE 2 is an end plan view of the device of this invention.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the device of this invention.

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the device of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING As illustrated in FIGURE 1, the principal application of this device, though not the only application, is for insulating a wire 10 with an adhesive insulating tape 12 which is normally carried by a backing portion 14. The device for dispensing the tape includes first and second arms 16 and 18 which are pivotally interconnected and 20 for relative movement. This interconnection is best shown in FIGURES 2 and 4.

As best shown in FIGURES 2, 3, and 4, there is secured approximately at the other end of the first arm 16 by means of a bolt or pin 22 and a spacer 24 a tape supporting reel portion 26 which may include the flanges 28 and 30. Flange 30 may include a wing nut arrangement shown at 32 for being threadably received on the end of the bolt 22 for rotatably securing a roll of electricians tape thereon.

Secured approximately at the other end of a second arm 18 is a take-up reel portion 36 which includes side flanges 38 and 40. As best shown in FIGURES 1 and 3, the take-up reel portion 36 is approximately the same width as, or slightly wider than, the width of the tape and the flanges 38 and 40 are so constructed and disposed as to receive the peripheral edges of the tape therebetween such that the backing layer 14 is smoothly and uniformly wound in a symmetrical roll and the tape is guided in position during rotation. The take-up reel means is rotatably secured by means of a bolt 42 and a nut 44 to the arm 18 and a pair of oppositely extending handle portions 46 and 48 are received thereon. The handle portions and the reel portion rotate together relative to the arm. Generally, the clamping action of the bolt 42 and the nut 44 are sufficient to rotate the take-up reel means satisfactorily. However, if desired, a pin may extend from the handle portion 46 into the take-up reel means 36, preferably into the end 40, for causing the handles to rotate with the take-up reel means. Similarly, the handle 48 may be secured to the bolt by a key, said screw or any other conventional fastening means including conventional adhesives. Since these are expedients common to those skilled in the art and since it is necessary only that the handles and the take-up reel means be secured such that rotation of the handle causes the takeup reel means to rotate no further description or illustration is deemed necessary. Preferably, of course, the handles on the take-up reel means are carried by the same bolt but this is not necessary to the operation or concept of the invention since a gearing or other arrangement would be the equivalent of the arrangement illustrated.

It is important to note that the arms 16 and 18 are biased by means of a spring 50 such that the free ends are urged together thereby maintaining the take-up reel means in contact with the dispensing roll of tape.

Two very important functions are performed by contacting arrangement wherein the take-up reel means is rotatably held in contact with the dispensing roll of tape. First, this arrangement serves to brake the unwinding of the roll of tape. Thus, the user may simply let go of the handles of the device and the tape will remain in position without unrolling further with resulting confusion and time consumption in recovering the tape or loss in abandoning the tape as waste. Secondly, rotation of the takeup reel means urges the dispensing roll to rotatably move thereby materially assisting in the ease with which tape may be dispensed therefrom.

The mode of operation is illustrated in FIGURE 1. The user grasps one of the handles, for example handle 48 and moves the device in an oribit as indicated by arrow 52 around the wire while at the same time rotating the take-up reel means by means of the handle 48. This causes the tape to be dispensed and to be wound about the wire 10 and, simultaneously, takes up the backing portion 14. Obviously, the number of rotations of the take-up reel means does not necessarily correspond to the number of revolutions of the device about the wire, however, after only a few tries the user learns to rotate the take-up reel means at an appropriate rate for taking up the backing material without effecting the dispensing of the adhesive tape material. It will be understood and will be apparent from FIGURE 1 that should the user release both handles the device will simply remain in position ready for resumption of use. As the device is moved orbitally about the wire the user alternately grasps one handle and then the other as the device is moved around and around the wire during use. The simplicity of the device and of the operation will be understood from the foregoing description and from the drawings to which reference has been made.

It will be apparent that a minimum number of moving parts are required, but each of the parts is moved by a force which can be controlled by the user, thus nothing is left for mechanical failure. Other advantages and benefits which accrue from the invention will be apparent from the specification and from the drawings.

It will be understood that while the invention has been disclosed as well as abstracted and summarized, with reference to specific embodiments and specific construction, that the disclosure and the drawings are merely exemplary of the invention and are not intended in the limiting sense. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited only by the appended claims and that departures from the actual construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. An electricians tape dispensing device for simultaneously dispensing adhesive tape and for winding backing material normally carrying said tape which, in operative combination, comprises:

first and second arms pivotally interconnected proximate one end thereof for relative movement;

means proximate the other end of the first arm for rotatably securing a roll of electricians tape of the type which includes a backing layer and an adhesive take-up rool means rotatably secured proximate the other end of the second arm for receiving and taking up the backing layer by Winding;

means secured for rotating the take-up reel means;

and

bias means resiliently urging the other ends of the arms toward each other for maintaining the take-up reel means in contact with the periphery of the roll for controlling rotation of the roll of tape;

whereby the user can simultaneously move the device in an orbit about a wire or the like and rotate the take-up reel means for winding the adhesive tape on said wire and taking up the backing layer by winding the backing on the take-up reel means.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the means secured for rotating the take-up reel comprises:

at least one handle extending from the take-up reel means for rotating the same and providing gripping means on the device.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein the means secured for rotating the take-up reel comprises:

a pair of oppositely extending handles secured for rotating the take-up reel means and providing gripping means for supporting and orbitally moving the device with the right and left hands alternately.

4. The invention of claim 3 wherein the take-up reel means comprises:

a central take-up portion having a length approximately equal to the width of the tape; and

a pair of end flanges adapted to guide the backing material into a symmetrical roll on the central portion and for receiving the edges of the roll of tape for maintaining the reel in contact with the tape during rotation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,569,140 9/1951 Avery 156-536 3,222,242 12/1965 Ingalls et a]. 156-584 SAMUEL FEINBERG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 2.2l-73 

